Railroad-spike.



A. McLELLAN.

RAILROAD SPIKE. APBLICAIIONI FILED JULY 14, 1908.

919,062, I Patented Apr. 20, 1909.

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AROHIBALD MCLELLAN, OF BRIDGEPORT, ILLINOIS.

RAILROAD-SPIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 14, 1908.

Patented April 20, 1909.

Serial No. 443,451.

easily into the tie and which will have a tendency to crowd the head of the spike over the flange of the rail.

Another object of the invention is to provide a spike which when once driven will hold its place and cannot be readily withdrawn by the pounding of the rails by rolling stock.

These and other objects may be attained by means of the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which,-

Figure 1 is a side elevation ofa railroad spike made in accordance with my invention. Fig. is an elevation looking at the rear side of the spike. Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3-3, Fig. 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 1 designates the body portion of the spike having a head 2 provided with a projecting portion 3 to engage the base flange of the rail. The body portion 1 of the spike is substantially rectangular in cross section, as shown in Fig. 3. The point of the spike is beveled upon opposite sides forming a chisel point 4. The inner side 5 of the spike is plane. The rear side of the spike is provided with parallel barbs 6 near the point 4 of the spike, said barbs having inclined upper shoulders 7, and said barbs being separated by an inclined wall 8. From the inclined upp er shoulders 7 of the barbs 6 the rear portion 8 of the spike extends upwardly and outwardly beyond the barbs 6 to form the upper barbs 9. The barbs 9 are each also provided with an inclined shoulder 10, and a central groove 11 separates the two barbs, as is the case with the lower barbs. In driving this spike the material in the tie is displaced by the barbs 6 which engage the grain of the wood and prevent withdrawal of the spike. When the spike is driven home, owing to the greater thickness of the spike at the upper barbs 9,

' the projecting head 3 of the spike is crowded over the flange of the rail and is thus held against withdrawal by the barbs.

I claim A spike provided with a plain front side and a rear surface provided with a plurality of pairs of barbs, each pair being separated by an intermediate groove, and an inclined wall between each pair of said barbs.

ARCHIBALD MoLELLAN. Witnesses W. H. l\/lOBRIDE, EMMET L. Cox. 

